Ganga Geese!
May 12, 2007
On April 3rd, at the conclusion of a yagya series, we sponsored a mass feeding on the steps of the Kedar Ghat in Varanasi. Feeding others is a proper part of every yagya although it is not always practical. But in this case we fed a lot of people in the evening and it seemed to go very well.
After much of the feeding was completed there was food left over even for the geese. It seems to be a fitting end to the event. I don’t know why but I never really think of geese and the Ganges together.
The fire of knowledge
May 11, 2007
“As a blazing fire reduces the wood
to ashes, O Arjuna,
so does the fire of knowledge reduce
all activity to ashes.
There is nothing on earth which possesses such power
to cleanse as wisdom.
The perfect yogin finds this knowledge in himself
by himself in due time.”
-Krishna in the Bagavad Gita
Awakening
May 10, 2007
“He who has found and awakened to the atman
which has entered the otherwise impenetrable body,
he is the maker of the universe, of all things.
The world is his! The world itself is he!
This we may know, indeed, while here on earth.
If we do not know it, great is the destruction.
But those who know it become immortal.
The others attain only distress.”
- Brihadaranyaka Upanishad
Shoka - sorrow
May 9, 2007
“Only when men can wrap themselves
with the sky as if it were a simple skin,
only then will there be an end of sorrow
without acknowledging God.”
- Shvetasvatara Upanishad
This quote comes from a chapter in “The Vedic Experience” by Raimundo Panikkar. In his commentary he says, “Evil, suffering, and sorrow have no why, because if we could really know the why of them - and not only the how - we would explain them away.”
Kavir manisi
May 8, 2007
“When, to a Man who knows, all beings
have become one with his own self,
when furthermore he perceives this oneness,
how then can sorrow or delusion touch him?
He is radiant, encompassing all,
incorporeal, devoid of scar or sinew,
invulnerable, pure, unpierced by evil.
He is seer, sage, imnipresent, self-existent.
To everything he has assigned its due place
through ages and ages unending.
Into blinding darkness enter those Men
who revere ignorance; into blinder still
go those who pride themselves on knowledge.”
–Isa Upanishad
The pure water of understanding
May 7, 2007
“As water descending on mountain crags
wastes it energies among the gullies,
so he who views things as seperate
Wastes his energies in their pursuit.
But as pure water poured into pure
becomes the selfsame - wholly pure,
so too becomes the self of the silent sage,
of the one who has understanding.”
-Katha Upanishad
Harmony
May 6, 2007
“Have your eating and drinking in common.
I bind you together,
Assemble for worship of the Divine,
Like spokes around a hub.
Of one mind and one purpose I make you,
following one leader.
Be like the gods, ever deathless!
Never stop loving!”
–Atharva Veda
Agni - the sacrificial flames
May 5, 2007
Oh blazing splendor, purifying flame,
joy of all hearts, with cheerful songs we venerate you,
the cheerful one!
–Rig Veda
Food by the Ganges
May 4, 2007
Sometimes feeding people in general is a good form of yagya. It certainly seems that when one is hungry the only prayer one if capable of is “Please God give me something to eat!”. So we might as well help answer that prayer.
The hidden atman
May 2, 2007
“Hidden in all beings, the atman does not shine forth, but he can be perceived by those subtle seers by means of their fine and subtle intelligence.
As oil in sesame seed, as butter in cream, as water in hidden springs, as fire in fire sticks, so is the atman grasped in one’s own self when one searches for him in truth and with fervor.
The atman pervades all, like butter in milk; he is the source of Self-knowledge and ascetic fervor. This is the Brahman-teaching, the highest goal! This is the Brahman teaching, the highest, the highest goal!”
–Upanishads